Here is the link to my vlog about my book bento. Sorry if its laggy or anything 😉

This book starts off with a fact. The main character is Susie Salmon is dead. You learn about her r*pe/murder in a fashion that doesn’t make you wish you skipped breakfast. And then the rest of the novel beginnings. As the reader, you get to hear how everyone’s life unfolds after the tragic death. You even learn about the murder walk free. But you also learn about what happens after death and how dead people effect every single one in ways that can flip your world upside down.

The creation of Susie had less background information than a normal novel, and I believe this was strategically planed. She is dead. You earn a little about what she wanted to be, who she liked, and one or two outfits. The rest was up to us. The author leaves it up to us to describe how we see the dead. It doesn’t completely reveal the mystery of death that every little kid has wondered about.

Personally, I enjoyed most of this book. The beginning was captivating and the perspective was brilliant. The second sentence set the mood for the rest of the book, “I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1978″(p.10). When you tell a story from the perspective of a dead person, they can see everything, but you get their emotion and connection to the earth. It is a fascinating choice to have as the voice of a novel and in this instance it really worked!

I disliked how slow the book got. About halfway through, it was like the car was stalling. Nothing very eventful happened. Then the end had a few shocking moments, but some those were confusing. To me, it seemed like someone else picked up this book and wrote some parts. The style, use of language, and perspective was the same, but the excitement was just not there.

Despite this, I still enjoyed this book and never found myself dreading to pick it up. I believe that is because of the strong, yet hidden, theme. “Plans change” (p.399) but it will be okay. It relates to everyone’s life in some way, and can teach us very important skills. The salmon families went through many ups and downs, but at the end they are all together, and happy. Even if they don’t know it, Susie is watching over them.

Since this novel took up the challenging idea of starting off with murder, instead of that being the climax, you learn a lot about every other character. We learn about Lindsay and Buckley, and the type of people they grow into. Their caring, crazy personalities show through almost as much as Ruth. Just from a few sentences we can tell that Ruth is a outgoing, forward-thinking girl who wants to help everyone who deserves it. A reader can easily picture this family, who has to struggle to move on with their lives, growing as individuals and as a whole.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, because parts may be hard to get through but it can be worth it. For this reason I would rate it, drum roll please,

This book starts off with a fact. The main character is Susie Salmon is dead. You learn about her r*pe/murder in a fashion that doesn’t make you wish you skipped breakfast. And then the rest of the novel beginnings. As the reader, you get to hear how everyone’s life unfolds after the tragic death. You even learn about the murder walking free. But you also learn about what happens after death and how dead people effect every single one in ways that can flip your world upside down.

The creation of Susie was less than a normal novel, and I believe this was strategically planed. She is dead. You earn a little about what she wanted to be, who she liked, and one or two outfits. The rest was up to us. The author leaves it up to us to describe how we see the dead. It doesn’t completely reveal the mystery of death that every little kid has wondered about.

Personally, I enjoyed most of this book. The beginning was captivating and the perspective was brilliant. A story from one persons perspective, after they have died. They can see everything, but you get their emotion and connection to the earth.

I disliked how slow the book got. About halfway through, it was like the car was stalling. Nothing very eventful happened. Then the end had a few shocking moments, but some those were confusing. To me, it seemed like someone else picked up this book and wrote some parts. The style, use of language, and perspective was the same, but the excitement was just not there.

Despite this, I still enjoyed this book and never found myself dreading to pick it up. I believe that is because of the strong, yet hidden, theme. Plans change but it will be okay. It relates to everyone’s life in some way, and can teach us very important skills. The salmon families went through many ups and downs, but at the end they are all together, and happy. Even if they don’t know it, Susie is watching over them.

Since this novel took up the challenging idea of starting off with murder, instead of that being the climax, you learn a lot about every other character. We learn about Lindsay and Buckley, and the type of people they grow into. Their caring, crazy personalities show through almost as much as Ruth. Just from a few sentences we can tell that Ruth is a outgoing, forward-thinking girl who wants to help everyone who deserves it. A reader can easily picture this family, who has to struggle to move on with their lives, growing as individuals and as a whole.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading, because parts may be hard to get through but it can be worth it. For this reason I would rate it, drum roll please,

So Mrs. Tinkham asked why does this book matter. So why does it? Well matter is physical substance in general, as distinct from mind and spi…

oops not that type of matter.

I think that this book, like every book, matters in some way to someone. But this specific novel matters for a certain reason. Murder, rape, and life. The best way to describe it is a quote from Ms. Salmon. “Plans change”(p.399). This is her response to Mr. Salmon when they are separated. But it applies to everything in this novel. Currently-life and death seems to be on everyone’s mind. Every one wants the answers, they want to know what happens, and some consider what if the point of life over death? But in 2002? It wasn’t. I think when this book was published, this topic wasn’t huge. But this novel was a way to bring it to light. And everyone is going back to it because it applies to modern day life.

I think, like Mrs. Salmon said, plans change. The plan for the reason this book matters has changed. Susie’s life, and everyone around her, had changed. The plans changed so many times for the whole Salmon family, but through out it we get a sense that everything will be okay. The world is upside down, and plans change, but it will be okay.

I think this can double as the theme of this book. This book matters because of its theme. Plans change, but it will be okay. It might be different, but it will be okay.

Charlotte and Claudia

I really just listen to whatever is on the radio. 92.3, 102.9, and 107.1 are definitely the best! I always change the station once rap comes on, so I guess I like pop music. But I don’t have like a favorite artist or go-to album.

So we both don’t like rappers. No gucci gang here! Lets get serious, rappers dont actually sing and current rap is just like drugs/sex. And the meanings tend to be shallow or hidden so deep it seems like a 7 page paper. So, yeah. No rap here.

FOOD! Not gonna lie-I ate a sandwich right before this. Carbs are the best. Any type of pasta or pizza-DA BOMB. We personally don’t eat next to microphones but this amount seems about right for a after school snack.

So we like have to link something in the text, so here is…We’re not really sure what this is but it looks fun so enjoy.

This is Charlotte’s favorite song, since I (Claudia) did the music section in the beginning. Please listen to Marina’s new music it’s such a bop!!

I chose to write a diary entry as Mrs. Salmon in the mists of chapter 16, a year after Susie’s death/r*pe. Please note-I took some liberty as to her character based off of the timeline, since the whole novel is from Susie’s perspective.

Dear diary,

I apologize for not writing often anymore. You see, I am not a silly school girl writing about her crush. This is just for me to get my thoughts out, because a woman’s place is in the kitchen. “Be seen and not heard” is what my mom always said and is how my siblings and I were raised. My husband and I decided for a slightly different approach with our children, but it is all off of the same core principals.

The real reason I haven’t been writing is because you remind me of Mr. Harvey’s journal. Where Lindsey found the drawing of that cornfield. I can’t bear to look at that place anymore. All I see when I glance over is her elbow. Stuck in that slobbering beats mouth. But I have been glancing in that direction these past few hours. Its been a year since, I can’t bear to write it. Kids are all out there, over the place that my daughter took her last breathe. I guess everyone copes in their own ways, but with this and my family’s obsession with our neighbor it’s like our lives can’t escape Susie.

Oh please forgive me. I know I should try everything to find the murder, but I just want to raise my two children in peace. Not in this tornado of a life. That’s why I’ve spent more time with Detective Fenerman. He understands that this case is closed, and I can’t help it when my heart lurches out towards him. I know I shouldn’t, but aren’t I allowed some normal is this hectic life?

“The Lovely Bones” is set in the 1970s, meaning that there are multiple culture differences.

One thing I found was on page 21, Mr. Harvey was just starting to r*ape Susie, and he said “‘take off your parka'”. I had never heard of an article of clothing being refered to as a para before. Originally I just shrugged it off, but it came up a few more times. Apparently everyone owned a parka! Once I googled it I learned that it was just a fancy name for a coat. Did anyone know what this meant when they first read it?

In the beginning of Chapter two, page 30, Susie is in heaven talking about what her life would have been like if she lived to go to high school. She describes what she would be like and mentions that she would wear her “hair feathered or up in a bun”. Obviously I knew what a bun is and could picture it quite easily in my head. But not feathered hair. I learned that is was a popular hairstyle in the 1970s where you would layer your hair with a side or center cut. It was supposed to give it a feathered appearance, but I think it just looks like bedhead mixed with windblown hair.

The beginning of chapter 6 is where Susie starts to talk about her love life on Earth. But it all starts from her being late to school. And she had to sneak around and ran into her crush because of the fear of being caught late. Since apparently the principal would ‘bend you over and paddle your behind with a board”. So I did some research cause this is illegal now for (hopefully) obvious reasons. I apologize now for using Wikipedia, but all other websites were other countries or where it was still legal to hit students. (Surprise-it is allowed in 19 states.) Each state outlawed it at different times, but most in the late 70s early 80s. So while it surprised me, apparently it was common and a very reasonable fear for Susie to have. And it helped to spark love as well so it couldn’t have been too bad…jk.

***Spoiler for the first 13 chapters!***

I’m gonna put in spoiler notices now because I am getting pretty far along in this amazing novel.

So much happened I was on the edge of my seat the whole time reading! My favorite parts all included Mr. Harvey. Susie’s sister finally figures out that it was him and breaks into his house! And she stole evidence of him to murder Susie. If he is not caught by the end of this book I am emailing the writer. But I was so scared because I figured she would get caught and murdered! Do you think Mr. Harvey will come after her? Murder both Salmon girls…

And the list of everyone he had killed was fascinating. The youngest one was like 6. 6! People your own age getting murdered is creepy but murdering a toddler is creepier. It was interesting how he only started to r*pe his victims after a certain point. Like it hadn’t crossed his mind that it was possible.

This novel seems to imply that some people (Mr. Harvey!!!!) are born with this urge to murder things. Which is insane and super creepy. Like-theirs this person on your block who is killing animals so they don’t kill you… ummm that’s some freaky s***.

6 chapters. And so much has happened. In such a short amount.

It starts off with Susies murder/rape. So the reader knows what happened, bth no one in the story does. The family refuses their daughters death at first, but learn to accept it.

Then we learn about heaven. That is where Susie is, and she is narrating. So we get a cool perspective from this.

Around the 4th chapter we start to hear about some past. Susies love interest, the family mood, and school. But anyone she was close too is inspecting as a murder.

The most interesting part is Ruth. Susie touched her on her way to heaven and that gave susie a obsession. Ruth and Susies first kiss, Ray, start talking. And talk about Susie. I think that these two will be helpful in finding the murder.

Susies father has a suspicion of who the murderer is in chapter 6. And we know that he is right. But the police dismiss it, since there is no evidence. But I don’t think hell ever give up. I really hope he finally catches the murderer.

So I am 4 chapters in. And I love this book!

Right before the story started, I beleieve that the main character lived a normal life(for that time period). She was coming home from a normal day at school, where she turned in her assignment early to get the next book in class. So I would assume that she was studious and always tried her best in school. Which, everyone should. She was looking forward to high school and the ability to use her “starter kit to becoming what I wanted to be. A wildlife photographer.” on page 75. I think Susie was ready to continue her life and never expected anything out of the ordinary to happen. It’s the 1970s so not everything was super crazy back then. So of course, since this is a fiction book, something terrible had to happen to throw her off track. And in this case, end a perfectly good life.